Salix fuscescens Andersson
Alaska bog willow.
Monogr. Salicum 97. 1867.
Salix fuscescens var. reducta C.R. Ball
Plants low shrubs; less than 15 cm high, or more than 15 cm high; 15–30 cm high; forming colonies by layering. Stems. Aerial stems erect, or decumbent. Branches yellow-brown; not glaucous; glabrous; epidermis flaky. Branchlets yellow-brown, or gray-brown, or red-brown; not glaucous; glabrous. Bud scale inner membrane free but not separating from outer membrane. Stipules. Stipules present, or absent; scale-like; apex acute. Petioles. Petioles 2–6.4 mm long; glandular dots at the base of the leaf absent; deeply concave in cross-section, but margins not covering the groove; glabrous. Leaves. Juvenile leaves yellowish green; glabrous. Blades 1.4–3.7 cm long; 7–21 mm wide; length-width ratio 1.4–2.5; leathery; oblong (to narrowly so), or obovate (to broadly so); flat, or revolute (slightly); secondary veins protruding on adaxial and abaxial surfaces; secondary veins arising along midrib; stomata only on abaxial surface. Blades adaxial surface shiny, or highly glossy; glabrous. Blades abaxial surface glabrous; glaucous. Leaf bases obtuse, or acute, or rounded. Leaf margins entire, or serrate, or crenate (crenulate); with teeth all around leaf, or toward base only; with teeth per cm 4–7; with marginal glands. Leaf apices obtuse, or retuse, or rounded.
Plants bisexual. Catkins. Catkins flowering with the opening of leaf buds; one to several catkins just below tip of previous year’s shoot. Male catkins. Male catkins densely flowered; 7–45 mm long; 5–19 mm wide; stout, or subglobose; peduncles 0.5–13 mm long; borne on a flowering branchlet; flowering branchlets 0.5–15 mm long. Female catkins. Female catkins moderately densely flowered, or loosely flowered; 11–44 mm long; 6.5–15 mm wide; slender, or stout, or subglobose; peduncles 2.5–15 mm long; borne on a flowering branchlet; flowering branchlets 4–18 mm long. Floral bracts. Floral bracts brown, or bicolour; apex rounded; lanceolate, or ovate; widest at middle; 0.8–1.6 mm long; hairy all over; hairs sparse; hairs straight, or wavy; entire. Stamens 2; filaments glabrous. Anthers purple, or purple becoming yellow; ellipsoid, or stout-cylindrical; axis straight; 0.3–0.4 mm long. Male flowers. Male flowers abaxial nectaries absent; adaxial nectaries one; adaxial nectaries broad-rod; adaxial nectaries 0.5–0.83 mm long. Female flowers. Female flowers adaxial nectaries unlobed; broad-rod; 0.4–0.88 mm long; shorter than stipes. Stipes 0.8–2.5 mm long. Ovaries inverse club-shaped; ovary abruptly tapering to style; glabrous, or hairy; ovary puberulent, or pubescent, or hairs short-silky. Ovary hair sparse, or moderately dense; mixture of white, or translucent, and rust-coloured; appressed; straight, or wavy; ribbon-like, or flattened. Styles 0.1–0.65 mm long. Stigmas slender-cylindrical, or broad-cylindrical; lobes 0.24–0.68 mm long. Ovules 8–12. Fruit. Fruit 5.5–8 mm long; glabrous, or hairy.
Chromosome inforamtion. 2n = 38. Johnson & Packer 1968; Suda & Argus 1969; Zhukova 1967; Zhukova & Petrovsky 1976.
Distribution. Northern hemisphere: Canada, United States, Eurasia. Canada: Man., Yukon, N.W.T., Nunavut. USA: Alaska. Arctic Islands: Victoria.
Ecology and habitat. Elevation 55–1006 m. A low shrub, growing in moss in bogs, treed bogs, sedge fens, poorly drained lake shores, and wet tundra, on a substrate silt or fine sandy-gravel.
Notes. Salix fuscescens is known in the Arctic Islands only on Victoria Island. It was collected at Long Lake by J.D.H. Lambert on 14 July 1964 (CAN 52349). It is characterized by leaves glabrous and obovate, the base often tapering and with a few glandular serrulations, adaxial surface glossy and abaxial surface glaucous; pistillate catkins loosely flowered, ovaries often dark reddish brown with rust-colored hairs.
Cite this publication as: G.W. Argus, C.L. McJannet and M.J. Dallwitz (1999 onwards). ‘Salicaceae of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago: Descriptions, Illustrations, Identification, and Information Retrieval.’ Version: 2nd November 2000. http://http://www.mun.ca/biology/delta/arcticf/. Dallwitz (1980) and Dallwitz, Paine and Zurcher (1993, 1995, 2000) should also be cited (see References).